How God Makes Men: A Father Like Abraham or Lot?

Text: Genesis 22:6-12

6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. 7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.

9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. 11 But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”

How does an omniscient, all-knowing God say ‘Now, I know’?

I’ve always KNOWN it, this is when I KNEW it.

Abraham’s Nuggets Of Wisdom

Even Men of Great Faith Have Flaws

God takes imperfect people and perfects them through a process.

Through the tests Abraham learned:

To be led by God’s hand, you have to let go of what is in your hand.
Between the Promise and the Promised Land is a process.
The Only Easy Test Was the Last One.

God makes men through a patient and painstaking process.

2. What Captures Your Eyes Will Eventually Control Your Heart

Gen 13:10 And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of Zoar. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) 11 So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley, and Lot journeyed east. Thus they separated from each other. 12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom. 13 Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord.

14 The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, 15 for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. 16 I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. 17 Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.”

Abraham vs Lot

Abraham walked by faith… Lot walked by sight.
Abraham lived selflessly… Lot lived selfishly.
Abraham was righteous… Lot was compromised.
Abraham left a blessing… Lot left an enemy.

3. You Only Keep What You Give Away

Hebrews 11:17–19 (ESV)

17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, 18 of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 19 He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.

Matthew 6:19–21 (ESV)

19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

How to Store Treasure in Heaven

• Pursue Proximity

• Live Gratefully

• Give Generously

• Invest Relationally

• Serve Selflessly